• March 2018: See my WNYC (NPR) series exploring misconceptions about diabetes, called Sugarland

Welcome to my website. A decade ago, I wrote a grant to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to study the effects of violent video games on the attitudes and behaviors of young teens. Our team at Harvard/Massachusetts General Hospital tried to squeeze as much value as possible from those $1.5 million taxpayer dollars. We turned out numerous academic papers and chapters. When our MGH team disbanded, I gave our survey dataset to my colleague Chris Ferguson, who continues to unearth useful insights.

Given our public funding, I felt an obligation to share our findings not just with other researchers, but with parents, policymakers, physicians and educators. I wrote Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do (Simon & Schuster, 2008 & 2011) with my spouse and longtime collaborator Larry Kutner. We were taken aback (perhaps naively) by the criticism we received for considering the possibility that video games might have benefits as well as risks. But we were surprised and heartened by the warm reception we received from the gamer community.

Video games have taken me around the world, with academic and popular presentations from Istanbul to South Korea, and radio/TV/print/web interviews with journalists in dozens of countries. I’ve had the good fortune to meet and collaborate with fascinating people from all kinds of places and backgrounds. If you have concerns or questions about video game effects, this site has information that may help. I’m no longer actively doing research in this area, but continue to write and speak on related issues.

Please get in touch if you have a problem or project you’d like to talk about.

–Cheryl K. Olson

About Me

Expert on using media to change attitudes and actions that promote health. Co-founded the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Internationally known researcher on video game violence. Author. Media producer. Speaker. Consults to nonprofits, foundations and corporations.